This is a great easy dish for slow cooking. Although there isn’t much meat on the lamb shank, it is the sweetest part of the lamb. Plan on one shank per person and enjoy. The technique used is braising; once you have learned it, a whole universe of dishes opens up to you!

Sauté the shanks: Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly flour each shank. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pan over medium high heat and brown shanks on all sides. Set aside in a roasting pan and discard the excess fat from the pan. Deglaze the pan with Madera wine. Add veal stock, sliced carrots, and sliced leek, garlic, chopped thyme and rosemary. Pour everything over the lamb shanks, add the reconstitute porcini with the water, raz el hanout and can diced tomato.

Braise: Cover the roasting pan with foil, and braise in the oven at 400°F for 1 hour 50 minutes to 2 hours or until the meat is tender, turning the shanks once or twice. Remove shanks to a serving platter. Spoon sauce over shanks and serve with soft polenta.

Raz-el-Hanout is an interesting blend of up to 20 sweet spices essential to Moroccan cooking. Besides couscous and other Moroccan dishes, this blend wonderfully brings together classic European recipes.

Learn more about Braising: This the technique of cooking large cuts of meat, poultry, or vegetables in enough flavored liquid to partially cover over a very low heat. The food is browned before the liquid is added and a mirepoix of roughly cut vegetables is often included for flavorings. The pot is tightly covered so that the food cooks slowly in the liquid and steam until very tender. The resulting braising liquid is exceptionally flavorsome and is served as a sauce, either as it is or reduced.